Sometimes you don't know that you have an addictive personality until you take that first drink, hit, bet, etc. That's when the demons hit you and you only think about the next drink, hit, bet, etc...

 

Look, I used to have little sympathy for drug users...until my cousin's son, Brian died from an overdose, my friend Beaver died from an overdose, my friend's son, Jacob Baumann died from an overdose (his funeral is today). These and others I've known who died from heroin weren't junkies. They were all fighting demons and lost the battle. They are the faces that make it personal now. If you don't know someone who has lost the battle against heroin, you are extremely lucky because it's everywhere.

 

Oh, and by the way, heroin isn't just shot up. You can snort it; you can sprinkle it on your weed and smoke it. That means your kid can be tricked into using it. Think about that.

 

You may be tricked into using heroin with another drug, but you are not tricked into using drugs which is my point. I get your points and I do know it hits close to home sometimes. I have two 1st cousins who are cocaine addicts. Just waiting on the call. They made those choices to start getting high, they will live with the repercussions of that decision. I will feel the gravity of their deaths. I will not have sorrow or empathy for them wasting their lives. At least they are unmarried and have no children.

You still chose to use the first time. The blame for that cannot be placed on addiction, that is solely on the user.

 

Do you drink alcohol? Consider yourself lucky you didn't become an alcoholic.

You cannot get addicted to heroin if you never smoke it. Fact.

 

False.

 

When life begins in rehab: A baby heals after a mother’s heroin addiction - The Washington Post

Do you drink alcohol? Consider yourself lucky you didn't become an alcoholic.

 

I'm with @TheDeuce on a lot of this.

 

Call it an unsympathetic way of viewing things, but people who give into their addictions have weak will power.

 

I love drinking beer and some would maybe say I have alcoholic tendencies (and they would word it that way to be nice). But I choose not to drink every day. I choose to only drink when I know it won't affect my job(s).

 

You get addicted to something because you made a choice, an often times, more than once which lead you to your addiction in my opinion.

 

I am very similar to @UKMustangFan when he talked about his addictive personality. But I make the right choices and avoid casinos, limit myself to only one league of paid fantasy football, stay off FanDuel and etc.

 

All started with a choice and I have a hard time calling these people victims, because its from their own choices. I do feel for their families.

False.

 

When life begins in rehab: A baby heals after a mother’s heroin addiction - The Washington Post

 

I almost added babies born addicted as an aside, but didn't. I assumed we were all talking about adults.

Do you drink alcohol? Consider yourself lucky you didn't become an alcoholic.

 

I do. And had I become addicted I would have nobody to blame but myself for CHOOSING to drink alcohol the first time.

I do. And had I become addicted I would have nobody to blame but myself for CHOOSING to drink alcohol the first time.

 

But when you took that first sip, did you think of the potential dangerous path that one sip could lead you down?

 

For some, that 1st sip is all it takes to spiral into uncontrollable alcoholism.

 

For some, that 1st sip is all it takes to spiral into uncontrollable alcoholism.

 

I really struggle with believing that one beer/drink could spiral someone into uncontrollable alcoholism.

 

I do believe that one time using heroin could cause that though.

But when you took that first sip, did you think of the potential dangerous path that one sip could lead you down?

 

For some, that 1st sip is all it takes to spiral into uncontrollable alcoholism.

 

I was fully aware of the effects alcohol and alcoholism when I drank the first time, yes.

I was fully aware of the effects alcohol and alcoholism when I drank the first time, yes.

 

I'm not sure when you had your first drink but I'll say most teenagers/young adults are not fully aware. They may think they are but they can't fully process how bad addiction can be.

 

To be clear, I'm generalizing when I believe most people have their first drink. Not you specifically.

It's like this. If you are told if you jump off the bridge you will more than likely die and you choose to jump anyway, how are you a victim? You might live the first time so now you are addicted to jumping off the bridge. You now continue to do so uncontrollably until you die. You were told you will die but jumped the first time anyway. ( choice) Had you never jumped the first time you would not die from jumping off the bridge. I learned at a young age as most everyone that drugs are bad for you. If you don't want to screw up your life don't do drugs. That wasn't hard to comprehend. Some focus on the poor addicted addict as some charity case. I would rather focus on the choice to jump off the bridge knowing the consequences. Fire is hot, heights can kill if you fall, don't play in traffic, smoking is not good for you, electricity can kill you,

Drugs are bad and can kill you... All easy lessons.

I'm with @TheDeuce on a lot of this.

 

Call it an unsympathetic way of viewing things, but people who give into their addictions have weak will power.

 

Has absolutely nothing to do with "willpower", just like beating cancer has nothing to do with "willpower"

 

I love drinking beer and some would maybe say I have alcoholic tendencies (and they would word it that way to be nice). But I choose not to drink every day. I choose to only drink when I know it won't affect my job(s).

 

Lots and lot of functional alcoholics out there. If you are making a conscious choice to not drink because you think it may affect your job...guess what, that's a primary indicator of a greater issue. People who don't have chemical problems don't consider their recreational use a factor in their career...period.

 

You get addicted to something because you made a choice, an often times, more than once which lead you to your addiction in my opinion.

 

You are addicted. Period. It's a bio-physical condition, not a choice and has nothing to do with when or what chemical you put in your body.

 

I am very similar to @UKMustangFan when he talked about his addictive personality. But I make the right choices and avoid casinos, limit myself to only one league of paid fantasy football, stay off FanDuel and etc.

 

Yet those behaviors are not "normal" for those that don't have addictive tendencies.

All started with a choice and I have a hard time calling these people victims, because its from their own choices. I do feel for their families.

 

You should consider yourself lucky...today...but understand that addiction is also on a continuum. Just because you have the ability to "choose" today is not an indicator that you have no choice the next time. It doesn't work like that.

 

What you describe are high risk indicators of issues that you may have "under control" today, but may not in the future. You self regulate, that's a huge red flag. Just because you have control doesn't mean that every addict out there can fight that urge with the same thought process and action as you....

 

Not asking for sympathy and not calling any addict a victim, those getting healthy don't want to be called victims....but education for those that don't understand the disease is what is helpful in combating the entire epidemic.

It's like this. If you are told if you jump off the bridge you will more than likely die and you choose to jump anyway, how are you a victim? You might live the first time so now you are addicted to jumping off the bridge. You now continue to do so uncontrollably until you die. You were told you will die but jumped the first time anyway. ( choice) Had you never jumped the first time you would not die from jumping off the bridge. I learned at a young age as most everyone that drugs are bad for you. If you don't want to screw up your life don't do drugs. That wasn't hard to comprehend. Some focus on the poor addicted addict as some charity case. I would rather focus on the choice to jump off the bridge knowing the consequences. Fire is hot, heights can kill if you fall, don't play in traffic, smoking is not good for you, electricity can kill you,

Drugs are bad and can kill you... All easy lessons.

 

First, you are the one bringing the term "victim" into this discussion....

 

Secondly, your ability to rationally comprehend a construct is based on your ability to have rational thought...addiction doesn't work that way. It doesn't presuppose rationality as a precursor to a decision. It's not "normal" in it's thinking.

 

You minimize the concept of an overpowering force into platitudes of "jumping off bridges" and "fire is hot"....that is simple minded thinking in a complex disease.

 

It's just not that easy...but I will say again, until you have a deep down, up close, personal experience and can't make that make sense, and it affects you personally...you won't be inclined to see the fallacy in your thinking. I'm glad you don't have the street or personal experience in some ways, in other ways, it's sad that you may not see the indicators that are all around us.

Thought this might be relevant here.

Recovering Heroin Addict Thanks Officer Who Arrested Her

First, you are the one bringing the term "victim" into this discussion....

 

Secondly, your ability to rationally comprehend a construct is based on your ability to have rational thought...addiction doesn't work that way. It doesn't presuppose rationality as a precursor to a decision. It's not "normal" in it's thinking.

 

You minimize the concept of an overpowering force into platitudes of "jumping off bridges" and "fire is hot"....that is simple minded thinking in a complex disease.

 

It's just not that easy...but I will say again, until you have a deep down, up close, personal experience and can't make that make sense, and it affects you personally...you won't be inclined to see the fallacy in your thinking. I'm glad you don't have the street or personal experience in some ways, in other ways, it's sad that you may not see the indicators that are all around us.

 

Not buying that... Don't start doing drugs, don't become addicted nothing more simpler than that. You can think as you wish. I know a 100000000000% that if you dont take an addictive substance you don't become addicted to that substance. If you have no self control in the first place before the choice, you're probably a drain on society and family anyway. Not everyone should be patted on the back, coddled and told it's not your fault. If you start doing drugs it's YOUR fault. Not everyone can be saved from theirself. Stupid people do stupid things, oh well.